Walther Gebhardt

Walther Gebhardt (born August 14, 1906 in Ludwigsburg , † September 13, 2003 in Tübingen ) was a German librarian . From 1959 to 1972 he was director of the Tübingen University Library .

Live and act

Walther Gebhardt was born on August 14, 1906 in Ludwigsburg (Baden-Württemberg). After studying German and Classical Philology , he passed the state examination in 1929 and received his doctorate from the University of Giessen in 1930 . The topic of his dissertation was: "Problems of religious sociology in the novel of the German Enlightenment" . After completing his traineeship for the higher library service at the University Library of Giessen, the University Library of Leipzig and the Württemberg State Library , he passed the specialist examination for a career in the library in Leipzig in 1932. Other professional stations were the World War II libraryin Stuttgart and the State Library in Darmstadt , where he worked from 1934 to 1939. After military service and imprisonment (1939–1948), he worked from 1949 to 1959 as a librarian at the West German Library in Marburg / L. , Which he had been deputy director since 1954. This facility managed the book collections of the former Prussian State Library in Berlin, which were relocated to the western part of Germany. In 1959 Gebhardt became director of the Tübingen University Library and managed it until he retired in 1972. Richard Landwehrmeyer (1929-2006) was his successor .

The new main building of the University Library of Tübingen, completed in 1963, was built during his time in Tübingen. Other important focal points of his work were:

• the construction of a subject catalog according to the catalog scheme first developed by the librarian Hanns Wilhelm Eppelsheimer for the Mainz city library ; the establishment of an alphabetical user catalog and a general catalog of the holdings of the Tübingen institute libraries;
• the abandonment of the systematic listing of books in the book magazine in favor of listing according to the numerus currens principle from 1961;
• the establishment of a textbook collection supported by the Volkswagenwerk Foundation;
• the establishment of a record collection (music room) and the establishment of a “medical library” funded by the District Medical Association of South Württemberg;
• the establishment of the DFG collecting focus on criminology and
• taking care of the manuscript depot of the State Library of Prussian Cultural Heritage , which was returned to Berlin in 1968.

Award

Walther Gebhardt was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st Class, in 1969, primarily because of his services to the depot of the manuscripts temporarily housed in Tübingen in the former Prussian State Library in Berlin .

Publications (selection)

• Problems of religious sociology in the novel of the German Enlightenment , Roßteutscher, Coburg 1931.
• Special collections in German libraries  : Federal Republic of Germany including Berlin (West) , de Gruyter, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-11-005839-1 .

Essays

• The Herwarth Walden storm archive. In: Yearbook of the German Schiller Society, Volume 2 (1958), pp. 349–365.
• Gustav Freytag's collection of letters. In: Yearbook of the Silesian Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau, Volume 4 (1959), pp. 152-175.
• Subject cataloging as the task of the academic librarian . In: Zeitschrift für Bibliothekswesen und Bibliographie, Vol. 6 (1959), pp. 222–241.
• Thoughts on staffing requirements for a scientific library . In: Ewald Lissberger (Ed.): In libro humanitas. Festschrift for Wilhelm Hoffmann on the occasion of his 60th birthday, April 21, 1961 , Klett, Stuttgart 1962, pp. 55–65.
• The Tübingen depot of the State Library . In: Yearbook of the State Library of Prussian Cultural Heritage, Volume 1 (1962), pp. 294–302,
• From the old to the new university library in Tübingen . In: Tübinger Blätter, Vol. 50 (1963), pp. 62–63, 66–68.
• A manuscript collection of world renown in Tübingen. The depot of the State Library of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation . In: Attempto, Heft 17/18 (1965), pp. 40-46.
• Twenty years of the State Library's Tübingen depot . In: Jahrbuch Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Volume 7 (1969), 254–263.
• Georg Leyh 1877–1977. Reflections on his hundredth birthday . In: Zeitschrift für Bibliothekswesen und Bibliographie, Vol. 24 (1977), pp. 209–223.
• Prussian treasures in Tübingen. The Tübingen depot of the State Library . In: Tübinger Blätter, vol. 68 (1981), pp. 55-62.
• On the history of subject cataloging at the Tübingen University Library from 1817 to 1961 . In: library. Research and Practice, Vol. 6 (1982), pp. 74-88.
• About theater history sources in German libraries and collections . In: Joachim Krause u. a. (Ed.): Collect and sift. Festschrift for Oscar Fambach on the occasion of his 80th birthday , Bouvier, Bonn 1982 (Communications on the history of theater in the Goethe era, Volume 7), pp. 9–29, ISBN 3-416-01675-0 .

swell

• Yearbook of the German Libraries . Edited by the Association of German Librarians, Volume 44 (1971), personnel entry Walther Gebhardt
• House father of the library: On the death of the former UB director Walther Gebhard. In: Schwäbisches Tagblatt, September 19, 2003.
• Gabriele Zeller et al. (Red.): 100 - 50 - 10. Texts and pictures for the anniversary of the university library. Gulde, Tübingen 2012.